songs in the key of my life

Monthly Archives: April 2010

what an amazing day, upliftment is in the air, parent’s finally sealed a deal on a house, brother just had a baby, little zoya.

back in oakland, about 5 years ago, the homie sayyadina gave me this pocket rumi reader. she was an mc, a startlingly smart journalist, clear eyed and freckled, light skinned she heckled all the boys, she could even shatter noise, we were on tour together, she was rooster calling to all the tigres from our dominican hide out, got back to oakland, she re-picked up a habit, foster kid u dig, last i heard it was a sidewalk for her. i remember when she lived on a house boat at the berkeley marina. shoulda seena’.

fasting

fast from thoughts, fast:
thoughts are like the lion and the wild ass;
men’s heart are the thickets they haunt.
fasting is the first principle of health;
restraint is superior to medication;
scratching only aggravates the itch.
Fast, and behold the strength of the spirit.

this one’s gonna be quick, cuz my bike and the sun, the beach and my homegirl are waiting on me.

last night i was at basement bhangra’s lucky 13, that’s a lot of years for any club night in new york city, but especially notable because it still provides a unique, a rare space for desis to groove in both folk and funk ways.

nina sky rocked the stage, their presence was electric, queer, hot, think kanye mixed with pink shot through with bonnie and clyde. their vocals strong, soul cutting. at first i was thinking their covers were stronger than their og pieces, but then they shocked it with this foul mouthed tune. honestly inspiring.

raghav was dope as well, how he peppered songs with our parent’s classic love ghazal’s, oh my god, SWOOOOON. raghav is like our first jay sean, and i still get swept by his teri bathou mai. still feel his voice is most charismatic when he’s singing in hindi, but who am i to wish an artist would restrict himself. he said he’s dropping an album in the u.s. this year, lets hope it does well.

i’m over here thinking about mental health. how many of us in this hip hop extended family are dealing with real for real mental health issues? too many. we self-diagnose, we self-medicate. but we aren’t always successful at balance.

hence the way a strong warrior like guru could be so caught up in the powers of one personality, in this case, solar. i feel like that’s a mental health issue, straight up.

i respect the fact that no matter what’s been said about dj premier, preemo always responds in the positive. he speaks of his love for guru below, in a recent statement addressing guru’s supposed death bed letter, the one that reads like a cease and desist notice. i learned this off sohh.com:

DJ PREMIER’s Response:

“IT WAS A SAD DAY FOR ME TO GET CONFIRMATION ON THE DEATH OF A MAN WHO I WILL CONTINUE TO CALL MY BROTHER, KEITH ELAM, BETTER KNOWN AS GURU OF THE LEGENDARY GANG STARR,” he wrote. “FROM 1988-2004, WE EXPERIENCED SO MUCH SUCCESS TOGETHER THAT WE WERE ABLE TO EXPAND OUR BUSINESSES INDEPENDENTLY AND GIVE EACH OTHER WHAT GURU CALLED “CREATIVE SPACE,” BEFORE PLANNING TO REUNITE FOR OUR 7TH LP WHEN THE TIME WAS RIGHT. TRAGICALLY, WE WILL NEVER REACH THAT DAY. I’VE BEEN ASKED TO COMMENT ON A LETTER SPEAKING ILL OF ME WHICH WAS SUPPOSEDLY WRITTEN BY GURU IN HIS DYING DAYS. ALL I WILL SAY ABOUT IT IS THAT OUR TIME TOGETHER WAS BEAUTIFUL, WE BUILT A HIP HOP LEGACY TOGETHER, AND NO ONE CAN RE-WRITE HISTORY OR TAKE AWAY MY LOVE FOR HIM. ONE THING I WOULD NEVER DO IS PLAY AROUND WITH THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS LIFE. I WILL CELEBRATE GURU’S LIFE… I WILL HONOR HIS MEMORY… I WILL GRIEVE WITH THE ELAM FAMILY OVER HIS UNTIMELY DEATH…” (DJ Premier)

Also, Guru’s sister, Patricia Elam, issued this statement on behalf of the family:

“The Elam family wishes to thank the fans of our son/brother/father uncle/nephew/cousin Keith aka GURU for the outpouring of love, concern and support,” it read. “Our hearts are broken by the loss of someone we loved so much. GURU was devoted to his young son, who will most keenly feel his absence. GURU suffered from multiple myeloma for over a year. Accrued complications from this illness led to respiratory failure andcardiac arrest. As a result, GURU was in a coma from mid February until his death and never regained consciousness. Early on the morning of April 19th, he became hypertensive due to low blood pressure. He again went into cardiac arrest and slipped away from us. GURU died far too young but he was, and we are, proud of all his many legendary musical contributions. The family is not aware of any foundations established by GURU. We know and understand that countless fans want to express their condolences and love and, to that end, we are planning a memorial event in the near future that will be all-inclusive. Please look for further details from the family as they become available. from The Elam Family.” (Press Release)

that’s the update. meanwhile, the supreme court of this land is on a full throttle ride to decimate our first amendment rights. more on this next time.